Comments on: The places of naming: museums as cathedrals http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/ Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:54:01 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Kevan http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/comment-page-1/#comment-5599 Kevan Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:49:20 +0000 http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/#comment-5599 I'll have to forego the intellectual banter at the risk of sounding like a complete fool...but I think the museum that gets unveiled by the end of the Curious George movie is brilliant. Everything is interactive, geared towards kids experiencing history with hands-on experiments...some kind of cross between a science lab and McDonald's playland. Sweet. I’ll have to forego the intellectual banter at the risk of sounding like a complete fool…but I think the museum that gets unveiled by the end of the Curious George movie is brilliant. Everything is interactive, geared towards kids experiencing history with hands-on experiments…some kind of cross between a science lab and McDonald’s playland. Sweet.

]]> By: thomas http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/comment-page-1/#comment-5263 thomas Thu, 01 Mar 2007 01:04:59 +0000 http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/#comment-5263 I would agree with you that it will be near impossible for there to be an ideal museum for our time - simply for the fact that the some of us, probably most of us, do actually desire a mall museum - we achieve self-understanding and identity through out consumption (like we mentioned earlier with the economics of identity). I like what you've said here comparing the cathedral and the musuem with both of them acting as places of naming. I think I would identify one other commonality between them in that they are both communal experiences. Like Gopnik says, we can talk in a museum - and both cathedrals and and museums involve us coming together, not only as those present and acting, but also coming together with those that have come before us. I think I would like to adjust the Vulcan mind-meld picture from "My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts" by replacing the pronouns with plurals. I think the advent of the mall museum definitely helps identify what our current thoughts concerning community and coming together are. I mean, who needs to make a new friend when you can be busy snapping a photograph or buying a keychain? I would agree with you that it will be near impossible for there to be an ideal museum for our time – simply for the fact that the some of us, probably most of us, do actually desire a mall museum – we achieve self-understanding and identity through out consumption (like we mentioned earlier with the economics of identity).

I like what you’ve said here comparing the cathedral and the musuem with both of them acting as places of naming. I think I would identify one other commonality between them in that they are both communal experiences. Like Gopnik says, we can talk in a museum – and both cathedrals and and museums involve us coming together, not only as those present and acting, but also coming together with those that have come before us. I think I would like to adjust the Vulcan mind-meld picture from “My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts” by replacing the pronouns with plurals.

I think the advent of the mall museum definitely helps identify what our current thoughts concerning community and coming together are. I mean, who needs to make a new friend when you can be busy snapping a photograph or buying a keychain?

]]> By: Christo http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/comment-page-1/#comment-5143 Christo Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:37:18 +0000 http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/#comment-5143 Though Gopnik doesn't spend much time on anything other than museums of art objects, I think his ideas can be built upon or incorporated into an account of the modern museum that does include technology and other objects of industry. But it will be for others to paint that picture or to construct that dialogue since it simply isn't his area of expertise. Nonetheless, the common denominator, for me, between technology and art is that both mediate human self-understanding. So if I were to be critical of the lecture it would be more that I see the mall museum and the mindful museum equal variations on the theme of museums as mind-meld (I like that comparison) because a mall museum communicates, in its totality and in its parts, as much to me about what is meaningful to a generation as a mindful museum does. Is there, or can there be, an ideal museum for our time? That whatever comes out will be equally meaningful and meaningless encourages me to say no. But what do you think? Though Gopnik doesn’t spend much time on anything other than museums of art objects, I think his ideas can be built upon or incorporated into an account of the modern museum that does include technology and other objects of industry. But it will be for others to paint that picture or to construct that dialogue since it simply isn’t his area of expertise.

Nonetheless, the common denominator, for me, between technology and art is that both mediate human self-understanding. So if I were to be critical of the lecture it would be more that I see the mall museum and the mindful museum equal variations on the theme of museums as mind-meld (I like that comparison) because a mall museum communicates, in its totality and in its parts, as much to me about what is meaningful to a generation as a mindful museum does. Is there, or can there be, an ideal museum for our time? That whatever comes out will be equally meaningful and meaningless encourages me to say no. But what do you think?

]]> By: thomas http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/comment-page-1/#comment-5136 thomas Fri, 23 Feb 2007 00:52:39 +0000 http://www.christodeklerk.com/2007/02/21/the-places-of-naming-museums-as-cathedrals/#comment-5136 I listened to this lecture also - I was a little dissapointed that Gopnik did not spend more time on museums of objects, technology, rather than museums of art. My primary experience with museums when I was really young was going to farm museums with my grandfather who would point out different tools and how they were used and marveling at the skill needed to operate certain pieces of equipment (when my grandfather came to visit us in Pakistan he used hours of video tape to record various Pakistani construction and manufacturing techniques which he thought were totally ingenious - things like holding holding pieces of steel between your toes when working on building a roof rack). It was a communal sort of experience, because while I had very little interest in farming machinery (and still don't) I was absolutely fascinated by my grandpa. I think I have always hoped to somehow see through objects, through museums, to the people behind them. Museum as mind-meld maybe? I listened to this lecture also – I was a little dissapointed that Gopnik did not spend more time on museums of objects, technology, rather than museums of art. My primary experience with museums when I was really young was going to farm museums with my grandfather who would point out different tools and how they were used and marveling at the skill needed to operate certain pieces of equipment (when my grandfather came to visit us in Pakistan he used hours of video tape to record various Pakistani construction and manufacturing techniques which he thought were totally ingenious – things like holding holding pieces of steel between your toes when working on building a roof rack). It was a communal sort of experience, because while I had very little interest in farming machinery (and still don’t) I was absolutely fascinated by my grandpa. I think I have always hoped to somehow see through objects, through museums, to the people behind them. Museum as mind-meld maybe?

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